Dear Al & Maria -
I too agree with you. This is only my fourth year teaching and I certainly do try to do new and innovative activities with my students, but when I'm in a crunch, I revert back to the lecture mode. It's so much better when they can discover things themselves. It certainly is difficult when there is a standardized test at the end of the year, and your students' results on it are so important; not only for them, but for us as teachers. The local papers publicize each school's results and if results are under par there is an uproar. Witness the NYS physics regents exam last year, and chem to a lesser extent. Plus it seems to me that many students just don't want to push themselves. They just want the answer. They're not interested in the process of getting to it. Trying to make them think has been a goal of mine this year. We'll see what happens. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Rae
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I agree with you. I need to hear more of this type of feedback. I teach in
Virginia and I am doing this workshop alone. I did not realize how it would
help me remember what teaching was all about. I am in a state that has
standardized tests and it seems as though everything is about a 50 question
test at the end of the year. I have found myself doing more and more
lecture to cover the material (and still not always finishing). It is not
rewarding for me or the kids, I am sure. These videos have given me a boost
to do the more of the investigative activities. It is tough when they do
not prep and are clueless but I need to change what I am doing. I have been
teaching for 22 years and the last 5 have been very stressful and
challenging. I need to remember how fun it was to have activities where
kids go..."Oh YEAH...I get it!" I need to encourage more thining outside
the box. I have regimented myself within the box in fear of not covering
what I need to. Thanks for encouraging me and listening as well!

We discussed as much methodology as content tonight, a first. Some had
negative reactions to vague leading questions which students struggled with.
We thought the question asked by the girl in the mixing of ethanol and water
about the possibility of alcohol evaporating was not given enough attention
by the teacher. This was great to remember something that had been done
previously and to apply it to this new situation and should have been
rewarded. Further a great teaching moment was lost when the students could
have brainstormed about how to decide whether evaporation was a problem by
doing another experiment! For example, mix ethanol and ethanol and see if
any disappears. Or weigh the mixture and see if any has gone. We must
celebrate independent and creative thought whenever it occurs, whether it is
right or wrong, otherwise it will disappear. We liked the reminder that
many students are still in the concrete reasoning stage and need specific
visible examples like the nuts and bolts illustrating partial ionization. I
am hoping some of the group will stop lurking and post clarifications,
expansions and/or rebuttals to my report!